Chapter 29: Chapter 25: "She's not a science experiment."
The space-time rift reappeared over a large, green field. It had rolling hills and clusters of colorful flowers and berries. Sada and her party dropped out of it, and the rift closed behind them.
Each person waved their limbs and yelled as they fell.
Roaring Moon landed hard in a patch of pollinated flowers—so hard that Sada rolled off his back and banged her left arm.
"Ouch!" she yelled slightly, grasping it.
Arven squeezed Roaring Moon's sides so he could stay on. He looked down at Sada and asked, "Are you okay, Mom?"
Sada rose to her knees. Pollen covered a few of the crystals on her legs, so they didn't glow as brightly now. She turned on a brave face, hoping that Arven wouldn't see she was in pain, but he was too good.
"Your arm's hurting, isn't it?" he guessed.
"I've grown used to it," Sada mumbled. Regardless, she wished she had something for the pain.
Penny, Nemona, and Scarlet hopped off Koraidon and Miraidon and brushed themselves down. They double-checked to make sure they were in one piece.
Once they did, Scarlet rubbed Staraptor's—who was no longer Terastallized—shoulder as her way of saying thanks.
Staraptor nodded in return.
Scarlet pointed her Pokémon's ball at it and recalled it.
Arven dismounted Roaring Moon. He started to reach for Sada, but a sudden voice picked up by a warm blast of wind startled him.
"Oye! Is that an AI?" A black-haired man, who looked a little like Turo but shorter, appeared at the top of one of the area's hills. He wore a slick and shiny suit with a tie, lab coat, and tall, metallic boots that almost looked robotic.
Next to him was a Pokémon that resembled Delibird. It looked like a robotic bird and sported a bag/tail-like figure behind it. It was reminiscent of a cannonball. Despite the Pokémon's unique appearance, it only stood about two feet tall. Sada calculated that by performing a quick scan.
The man and his Pokémon jogged down the hill and hurried to her group.
Arven and Miraidon stepped in front of Sada. Seriously? Since when couldn't she handle a man? Why couldn't they, for once, leave her alone?
Arven folded his arms and told the stranger, "No, sir, she's not an AI. What gave you a crazy idea like that?"
He laughed and brought his hand to his lips. "You have quite the sense of humor, don't you, shortstack? Only an AI can Terastallize like that." He studied Arven's party. "It's also not every day that I see people and Pokémon dropping out of the sky. Let me guess, y'all are time travelers?"
"We are," Arven answered, still a little suspicious.
"I thought so." The man's attention moved over to Celebi and then returned to Sada. "It looks like Celebi's up to its old tricks. But enough of that. Let's talk about this AI." Scratching his stubble beard, he examined Sada's twitching arm. "Oh, wow! Does she feel pain? Hardly any AI does. Please, may I take a closer look at her?"
His Delibird-like partner hopped up and down and tossed one of its little wings into the sky.
The man inched closer to Sada, but Arven held his arms out to his sides. "Hey! Back off, slick!"
To show he agreed with him, Miraidon snarled.
Sada patted her Pokémon's shoulder and tugged on Arven's pant leg. "It's fine, Arven and Miraidon. He's just curious." She had to stay calm, no matter how frustrated she was.
"Yes!" Clenching his fist, the man knocked Arven and Miraidon aside and kneeled to her. "Please forgive me," he said, picking up Sada's chin. "Wow, you're definitely the prettiest AI I've ever seen."
"Grr." Arven tightened his jaw and stiffened up.
Ignoring him, the man removed Sada's hand from her arm. "I'm just gonna move this for a second." He jabbed his fingers into it and felt the crystals on the other side of her sleeve.
Sada flinched, but she took a deep breath.
"So this is where the Terastal energy's coming from," the man concluded. He freed Sada's arm and re-took her chin. He rocked her head from side to side and studied the crystals on her cheeks. "No doubt about it, kid, she's broken."
"We know she's broken, Captain Obvious," Arven snapped. "Now get your hands off her!" Without warning, he snatched the man's shirt and ripped him away from Sada. He gave his Pokémon a little boot in the process.
"Arven!" Sada glared. "That was way out of line. For Pete's Sake, you're sixteen years old."
"I don't care," he argued, kneeling to her. "I'm not going to have some random stranger hit on my mom."
"Wait." The man straightened his lab coat and tie. "She's your mom, kid?" With a confused look, he scratched the top of his head. It looked like he was trying to put one-and-one together. "How did that happen? I mean—!" He cleared his throat. "Of course, she's your mom. You look just like her. Same hair, eyes, and nose. If you were a girl, I'd even say you could be twins."
The man picked up his Pokémon and set it down on his shoulder.
Now that he mentioned it, Sada realized that it was true. Arven looked so much more like her than Turo. Pretty much the only difference was their eye colors. Now it made sense why Turo was so agitated. When he saw Arven, he saw Sada.
"I run a laboratory where I study AI robots," the man continued. "And not just human ones, but also Pokémon. I call it Kenji's Lab—named after the notorious me! I could take your mom there, kid, fix her, and see how she interacts with other AIs."
Arven exploded. "She's not a science experiment! She's a living, breathing human, and you're not going to take her from me!"
"Arven, what is your problem?" Sada growled.
Kenji quickly held up his hands and surrendered. "Okay, okay, I understand. But in case you change your mind, kid, here's my card. I'll transfer the lab's coordinates to the AI, too." He handed Arven a small card and touched a button on the touch-screen watch he wore on his left wrist.
Sada shivered when something cold passed through her wires.
"Transferring coordinates," spoke her computer. "Kenji's Lab."
"Aaannnd... done!" Kenji laughed. "Transfer complete. It was nice to meet you guys—especially you, Arven. I hope you get your mom fixed."
"Believe me, sir, we will," Arven bitterly explained.
"Oh, Kenji!" Nemona's hand shot up. "Before you go, I'm curious. What's that Pokémon on your shoulder? It's suuuper cute!"
"Oh, this little guy?" Kenji scratched his partner under its beak. "This is Iron Bundle. You'll see a lot of them if you come to my lab."
"Thanks, but no thanks," Arven spat before Nemona could speak again. He flicked his wrist. "Just leave us alone."
"Very well." Kenji turned on his heel. "But please, consider stopping by. I will make your mom brand-new." He rubbed Iron Bundle's chin one last time and left Sada's group.
Still upset, Arven tapped his boot and flipped up the strand of hair he wore over his eye. "Yeah, I don't think so."
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